A drop in the Arabian Sea

Born and brought up in a small town of Ahmednagar, located about 300 Kms away from Mumbai, my initial growing up years had been serene and calm. The roads there are narrow, an average day starts at 10 am, city sleeps by 10 pm, big bazar is supposed to be a shopping mall, the maximum time it would take to reach your workplace is 20 minutes, and the busiest people are the gossip mongers. Yet I loved my home town. (I could tell you long stories about its historical significance, brotherhood between people and all that). So when I decided to move to Mumbai, my parents got apprehensive. I tried to pacify their worries by reminding them that for the past few months I had been living in Pune which is almost like Mumbai. In my heart i knew it what almost meant!!

If there's a city in India that finds itself constantly in news, media, movies, books, controversies, it has to be Mumbai. To pen down what Mumbai is to me would not be an exceptional piece of work. (Had I been a celebrity things would be different :)) There has already been a whole lot of said and done about the maximum city, and I cannot do it any better. But sometimes writing is more about expressing rather than impressing.

When I was ten, Mumbai to me was a place which boasted of having essel world, one big amusement park that was every kid's dream holiday destination. In my teens I wanted to go to Mumbai to see the film stars. During my graduation I read about this city through books like Shantaram and maximum city and i got to know about the mafia, the rains, slums, Leopold cafe etc. Eventually I got posted for a job here to explore my own experiences with this city.

The initial days were spent in negotiating with cunning brokers and finding a reasonable accommodation. The next few days went in adjusting with the humidity and new roommates. But, it wasn’t long before I discovered that I had picked up pace with my fellow walkers and moreover, I enjoyed that. I loved being a part of this city, the crowd, the pace, the air, all of it. There is this welcoming aura about this city, you never feel like an outsider. No one owns Mumbai, yet it belongs to everyone. I had always believed that it’s the people you are with that matter, places are dead. But this is one city that breathes. It can be your companion, your teacher, your benefactor!!

I was awed by the awesomeness of this city. There were so many reasons to fall in love with it. Initially I fell for the Arabian sea over which the entire city thrives and drools. You will never run out of options for places to visit and time to kill. I had read somewhere that if you are still talking about yesterday, you haven't done much today. But this city creates its own history everyday. On a serious note, Mumbai impressed me for the humongous population that survived happily in here. Providing for the needs of different varied economic strata of society, this city has successfully emerged and generated the strong willed citizens who can fight back against every crisis. I was amazed with the way people here don’t fret about the crowd, rains and crammed apartments; they simply find a way out. The concept of ancestry is extinct here. Be it fame, poverty, misery, wealth, comfort or glamour, everything here is self earned. And I came in terms with Suketu Mehta's lines from maximum city. Those who have come here have not been at ease somewhere else. And unlike others who may have been equally uncomfortable wherever they came from, these people got up and moved. As I have discovered, having once moved, it is difficult to stop moving.

I know I would not be spending my life in this city. But my stay here has not been less than a life time. I found friends here, shared the same boat, fought through and emerged as strong individuals who can survive in any city now. I learnt to set my ideals and strive to live by them. I experienced the thrill to earn my own money and spend it wisely, yet have fun. I might have got my roots from my home town, but Mumbai, it gave me wings to soar high.